Paradise Lost
By
John Milton
Book XII

As one who in his journey bates at noon,Though bent on speed; so here the Arch-Angel pausedBetwixt the world destroyed and world restored,If Adam aught perhaps might interpose;Then, with transition sweet, new speech resumes.Thus thou hast seen one world begin, and end;And Man, as from a second stock, proceed.Much thou hast yet to see; but I perceiveThy mortal sight to fail; objects divineMust needs impair and weary human sense:Henceforth what is to come I will relate;Thou therefore give due audience, and attend.This second source of Men, while yet but few,And while the dread of judgement past remainsFresh in their minds, fearing the Deity,With some regard to what is just and rightShall lead their lives, and multiply apace;Labouring the soil, and reaping plenteous crop,Corn, wine, and oil; and, from the herd or flock,Oft sacrificing bullock, lamb, or kid,With large wine-offerings poured, and sacred feast,Shall spend their days in joy unblamed; and dwellLong time in peace, by families and tribes,Under paternal rule: till one shall riseOf proud ambitious heart; who, not contentWith fair equality, fraternal state,Will arrogate dominion undeservedOver his brethren, and quite dispossess

Concord and law of nature from the earth;Hunting (and men not beasts shall be his game)With war, and hostile snare, such as refuseSubjection to his empire tyrannous:A mighty hunter thence he shall be styledBefore the Lord; as in despite of Heaven,Or from Heaven, claiming second sovranty;And from rebellion shall derive his name,Though of rebellion others he accuse.He with a crew, whom like ambition joinsWith him or under him to tyrannize,Marching from Eden towards the west, shall findThe plain, wherein a black bituminous gurgeBoils out from under ground, the mouth of Hell:Of brick, and of that stuff, they cast to buildA city and tower, whose top may reach to Heaven;And get themselves a name; lest, far dispersedIn foreign lands, their memory be lost;Regardless whether good or evil fame.But God, who oft descends to visit menUnseen, and through their habitations walksTo mark their doings, them beholding soon,Comes down to see their city, ere the towerObstruct Heaven-towers, and in derision setsUpon their tongues a various spirit, to raseQuite out their native language; and, instead,To sow a jangling noise of words unknown:Forthwith a hideous gabble rises loud,Among the builders; each to other callsNot understood; till hoarse, and all in rage,As mocked they storm: great laughter was in Heaven,And looking down, to see the hubbub strange,And hear the din: Thus was the building leftRidiculous, and the work Confusion named.Whereto thus Adam, fatherly displeased.

O execrable son! so to aspireAbove his brethren; to himself assumingAuthority usurped, from God not given:He gave us only over beast, fish, fowl,Dominion absolute; that right we holdBy his donation; but man over menHe made not lord; such title to himselfReserving, human left from human free.But this usurper his encroachment proudStays not on Man; to God his tower intendsSiege and defiance: Wretched man!@what foodWill he convey up thither, to sustainHimself and his rash army; where thin airAbove the clouds will pine his entrails gross,And famish him of breath, if not of bread?To whom thus Michael. Justly thou abhorrestThat son, who on the quiet state of menSuch trouble brought, affecting to subdueRational liberty; yet know withal,Since thy original lapse, true libertyIs lost, which always with right reason dwellsTwinned, and from her hath no dividual being:Reason in man obscured, or not obeyed,Immediately inordinate desires,And upstart passions, catch the governmentFrom reason; and to servitude reduceMan, till then free. Therefore, since he permitsWithin himself unworthy powers to reignOver free reason, God, in judgement just,Subjects him from without to violent lords;Who oft as undeservedly enthrallHis outward freedom: Tyranny must be;Though to the tyrant thereby no excuse.Yet sometimes nations will decline so lowFrom virtue, which is reason, that no wrong,But justice, and some fatal curse annexed,Deprives them of their outward liberty;

Their inward lost: Witness the irreverent sonOf him who built the ark; who, for the shameDone to his father, heard this heavy curse,Servant of servants, on his vicious race.Thus will this latter, as the former world,Still tend from bad to worse; till God at last,Wearied with their iniquities, withdrawHis presence from among them, and avertHis holy eyes; resolving from thenceforthTo leave them to their own polluted ways;And one peculiar nation to selectFrom all the rest, of whom to be invoked,A nation from one faithful man to spring:Him on this side Euphrates yet residing,Bred up in idol-worship: O, that men(Canst thou believe?) should be so stupid grown,While yet the patriarch lived, who 'scaped the flood,As to forsake the living God, and fallTo worship their own work in wood and stoneFor Gods! Yet him God the Most High vouchsafesTo call by vision, from his father's house,His kindred, and false Gods, into a landWhich he will show him; and from him will raiseA mighty nation; and upon him showerHis benediction so, that in his seedAll nations shall be blest: he straight obeys;Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes:I see him, but thou canst not, with what faithHe leaves his Gods, his friends, and native soil,Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the fordTo Haran; after him a cumbrous trainOf herds and flocks, and numerous servitude;Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealthWith God, who called him, in a land unknown.Canaan he now attains; I see his tentsPitched about Sechem, and the neighbouring plainOf Moreh; there by promise he receives